The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
– Isaiah 22:1,11
So you listen to those two verses. There’s clearly an emphasis on vision here on what you look to and what you see when you’re in the valley. So just think about your life right now, and the valleys you have walked through, or valleys you will walk through, or valleys you may be walking through right now.
Isaiah 22:1,11 reminds us what our priority should be during hard times.
What’s most important as you walk through valleys is your sight. What you see and what you’re looking to the valley of vision, Isaiah 22:11 says, “The problem is you did not look to God. You did not see God who was working out His good plans and purposes even in the valley.” And you think about it, this is what makes valleys so hard, right? Because we have a hard time seeing who God is and how God is working. We don’t understand why this is happening. And God, over and over and over in his Word is saying, “Keep your eyes fixed on me. Just keep trusting in me. Keep looking to me. Keep looking to my promises and keep looking to my character.”
Because yes it’s hard to see in the valley but I think about what my dad would say to me. “When you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do.” In other words when you can’t see or understand this or that, focus on what you can see, what you know. When you’re in the valley, lift your eyes and look and know God is sovereign. God is all-powerful. God is all-wise. He is all-loving. The Lord God is worthy of your trust.
Isaiah 22:1,11 reminds us that God is always working on our behalf.
God is working all things together for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. Our God is faithful. God is with you. God is for you. I could keep going on and on. See him, look to him. In the valley, keep your vision fixed on God. Even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard, don’t look to yourself. Don’t look to this world. Don’t look down. Look up at him. I just think of the prayer in the Old Testament, “Lord, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
So I just want to pray this. Oh God, help us to keep our eyes fixed on you always. All day long today, we pray that you would help us to look to and see you. Even if things are going great in our lives, God, we pray that you’d help us to look to you and see you as the author of all these great things that are going on in our lives.
These verses encourage us to fix our eyes on the God of our salvation.
God, help us not to look away from you when things are going great. And when things are not going great, when things are hard, when we’re walking through valleys of sorrow, and suffering, and temptation and trial, God, please help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. To keep looking to you, your Word, your promises, your perfections, your attributes. God, we praise you that even when we go through dark days, we are not in total darkness because we have the light of your Word and the light of who you are, and all your love, and all your promises for us.
We praise you that you don’t leave us alone in the valley. We praise you that you are with us and that we can always, always, always look to you. I just pray that especially over those who are walking through valleys right now. Give them vision to see you, to trust you, to cling to you. And I pray that you’d provide everything they need as they look to you.
Prayer for the Jimma Oromo People
And God, we pray this for people who have never seen you, never seen your glory in the face of Jesus. We pray specifically today for the Jimma Oromo people of Ethiopia, four million strong, most of whom have never seen your glory, your attributes, your promises, that all find their yes in Jesus as their Savior. And Lord God, we pray that they would see you. We pray for the spread of the Gospel to the Jimma Oromo people of Ethiopia that they might see you, that they might know you, that they might trust in you. We pray all this according to your Word in Isaiah 22:1,11. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
